Sacred Symbols+, Episode 220 | We Miss You, Strategy Guides (Patreon)

If you grew up in the '80s and '90s, and even into the early aughts, print strategy guides were a staple of our hobby. They lined the walls and counters of your local games store, had a space in Toys 'R' Us, were promoted in ads, and were even pimped by the hardware manufacturers and developers themselves, most notably Nintendo. Brady, Prima, and even smaller labels like Versus released thousands of print guides, but these days, it's pretty much a dead end. The Internet -- first GameFAQs, then video -- killed the need for them. Yet, there are those of us who still have a fire burning for them (it's how I got my start in the industry, after all). To celebrate print guides -- their vibrant past, irrelevant present, and hopefully-vibrant future -- I invited a strategy guide master to the show. His name is Phil Summers, he's the designer, author, and artist behind Hand-Drawn Game Guides, and he's one of the only people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting who loves the craft as much as I do. Please enjoy as we gush.